Life of an Ultra Recruit
by Rach42
Summary: What was it like growing up at Ultra? This story looks at the daily lives of Ultra trainees about 12 years ago, when John and Killian were recruits there. Slightly AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

John lay awake staring at the ceiling. It was 5.58, the alarms would go off at 6am as usual, signalling for them to get up. He could feel Killian becoming restless in the bed below him, Killian was starting to wake up. After a few months of being at Ultra the recruits bodies starting getting a sixth sense for when it was time to wake up. John hopped down from the top bunk, moments before the alarm went off. He wanted to be the first in the bathroom, to beat the crowd of people that would enter in a few minutes.

There were 4 sets of bunk beds in John's dormitory, each uniformly spaced apart, with two small metal wardrobes lined up beside each bed, one per boy. Eight boys slept in John's room. They all shared the same large bathroom, which had two cubicle toilets, 3 cubicle showers and had 4 sinks. There was always a queue for the bathroom in the morning and John liked to get their first. If he didn't, as the youngest boy in the dormitory, he'd be pushed to the back of the line. The girls had it much easier; there were only 5 of them to the same sized bathroom.

John walked back towards his bed after having showered and brushed his teeth. Their dormitory looked peculiar, even though most of the boys were teenagers, the room had no posters or photographs or anything that made the room personal. Everything was uniform. Every bed was made in the same way, everyone had the same uniform, the same pajamas, even the boy's haircuts were similar. Ultra was very strict about personal items, if you had any they were to be kept out of sight in you wardrobe. No individuality was allowed.

John wasn't surprised to see Killian barely out of bed, he had never been a morning person. John approached his small wardrobe, pulling out a light grey T-shirt and dark grey combat trousers. John had been here nearly 2 years, he had just turned 15 and was the youngest recruit by a few years. Every other recruit was now over 18, the oldest being Dan who had just turned 24.

As Killian went to shower, John got dressed. He exited the room, using a cuff on his wrist to unlock the door. The cuffs were how they controlled the TP recruits, the cuff was called a suppression variant. When activated, it could prevent a TP from using his or her powers. The cuff remains on the TP at all times during training and can be deactivated to allow powers to be used. It also served as a key, unlocking doors that the TP has been allowed access to and was used to track the TP's movements across the building.

The cuffs were only deactivated in the training rooms. At night they were kept activated to ensure the recruits couldn't teleport out of their bedrooms. The recruits were also denied access to their dormitory door after 9pm, after this time, no matter what happened, recruits were stuck in their rooms all night.

John wasn't stupid, he knew he was a prisoner, whether the others saw it or not. But Ultra was the government, they legally controlled his life and he couldn't do anything about it.

John made his way towards the gym, he completed the 10 mandatory morning laps around Ultra's athletics track. This equated to a 4km run, a morning warm up expected of all recruits. John ran slightly more than this as he had decided to wait for Killian to finish his laps.

"McCrane." Jedikiah had called Killian over before they could leave. John glanced at them curiously, before making his way to breakfast. Killian would be while.

"Have you made your decision yet, regarding the Annex Project?" Jedikiah enquired.

"I'm still considering, sir."

"Killian, you've been given all the information. This could make you a better soldier, it's a once in a life time opportunity for you to develop a skill that no other TP has. The first Annex drug trials are starting next week and I'm giving you the chance to be one of a new wave of revolutionary TP agents."

"I know sir, and I'm grateful you're giving me this chance. But I've never done a drug trial like this before sir."

"I understand your concerns Killian, but the some of the best doctors in the US are working on this project." Jedikiah continued, "These trials may seem intensive, but they are safe." Jedikiah fully understood the risks of the procedures, but he needed Killian to agree to these trials. Killian considered, for what seemed like a long time.

"Ok sir," he said, with some reluctance. "I'll do it."

**TTP**

Killian grabbed a bottle of water and some fruit from the cafeteria and sat down opposite John. He ate nervously, his eyes not leaving the table. John eyed him suspiciously.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing." Killian said dismissively, looking up to change the subject. "What was your time?" John grinned.

"14 minutes 38 seconds." He beamed.

"4K in under 15 minutes, you're getting pretty fast Johnny boy." He smiled tightly, looking down at his food.

"It can be a lot better though, Alex once ran it in 12 minutes." He looked over at the cheerful, blonde haired recruit that John was referring to.

"Yeah well, Alex is 21 and has longer legs than you. I wouldn't get your hopes up on beating him just yet. Just under 15 minutes is really good for a 15 year old." John shot him an annoyed look, he wanted to be good in general, not just good for his age.

They finished their food in silence, before heading to a sparring session. The first half hour of this session always involved a long lecture and demonstration before anyone was allowed to fight.

"Today you will be practicing unarmed hand to hand combat. There will be times when you are in a fight and have no weapons, in some cases, you will not be able to use your abilities. So today we will practice hand to hand combat, without powers." The instructor snapped.

"Your body is a weapon. It is a weapon that will always be present, something you can always rely on. If trained properly, it can be more deadly than a gun, more stealth than a knife. And most importantly, if you walk into a situation with only your body to defend you, most people will think of you as harmless, not a threat."

"Today we will learn various disabling techniques, to enable you to take out your enemy quickly and quietly."

John was usually paired with Killian, but today he was paired with Sarah, a 19 year old recruit from Connecticut. When John first arrived at Ultra he was smaller than all the recruits by a long shot, now at 15 he was pleased to see he was taller than most of the girls, if only by a few centimetres. He still had quite a bit of growing to do before he would feel like a man, not to mention some muscles to develop.

In technique both John and Sarah were evenly matched, and although John had the edge on speed, Sarah, now fully grown, was used to her body's proportions. This meant her moves were less clumsy than Johns. The sparring session lasted two hours and both Sarah and John succeeded in disabling each other many times, using a variety of new techniques.

**TTP**

The afternoon session were specialized. Recruits were able to work one on one with an older TP, this offered Ultra the chance to specifically target and improve recruits weak spots. John's trainer was Roger Price.

"Hello John." He smiled as the boy entered.

"Hey." John replied.

"In the past few weeks, I've had you focus on taking out 3 or 4 trained humans using your powers to give you the edge. You've succeeded in this, but now we are going to step it up a notch. I've asked 10 trained human agents to be here today. They will be using laser guns, if you get hit by the laser your shot, and TIM" Roger glanced up, "will tell me as soon as your hit. Your job is to disable all the guards without injuring yourself."

On the first trial, John teleported behind a centre guard, pushing with his telekinesis to knock him down, before teleporting to the other side of the room and ripping a gun from a guard's hand, kicking at the back of his knee and causing the man to fall to his knees. As John teleported out, lasers hit the wall, they had just missed him. He teleported behind a guard on the opposite side of the room, but this man was ready; as John reached to put him in a sleeper hold he pulled John forward over his shoulder and slammed his back into the floor. John groaned immediately teleporting both him and the man grasping his arm across the room, the man pushed away from John after his teleport, eyes wide with fear and John stared at him for a moment too long.

"Shot." Was all TIM said. It was enough to make John break eye contact with the terrified human guard. John stood to his feet.

"Again." Roger said.

The process continued to repeat, but John improved. By the end of the session he had managed to take out 8 of the 10 guards. Roger had been evaluating him the whole time.

"You did very well, you improved dramatically. Pretty soon I'll be having you take out multiple TP agents." He put his hand supportively on John's shoulder, smiling down at him. "Teleporting has always been a strength for you John, but you're competent at telekinesis too. I think next time, you should try pushing more than one guard at a time, pushing out in a direction and temporarily knocking back the guards will give you cover when you appear after teleporting."

John always enjoyed his sessions with Roger, but in the past few days he felt different. He was angry at himself for liking the people that were keeping him prisoner. John left the session feeling utterly confused. A few weeks before he had been happy at Ultra, he was out of his foster home, he had made a friend; life felt good. But now he felt different things had changed, he had changed.

**Maybe to be continued? Depending on if people are interested. If I do continue it, John will probably go through a rebellious teenager phase.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

_Takes place 4 weeks after the first chapter._

John woke up to the sound of Killian throwing up on the floor next to the bed. He climbed down, trying to comfort the boy by putting a hand on his shoulder as Killian continued to empty his stomach. A few of the other boys had gotten out of bed to see what was going on, including Alex.

"Give him some space, John." Alex gently pulled him away, putting his arm around the younger boys shoulder. He gave Killian a concerned look, the boy was now kneeling next to his bed dry heaving.

"If you want to do something useful, kid, go to the bathroom and get something to clean this mess up. I don't want our room smelling of puke." Reese, an older recruit, told him. He glanced at Alex, who nodded to show his agreement, before heading to the bathroom. No doubt he would be cleaning up Killian's mess alone.

When John returned, Alex and Reese were helping an out of breath Killian back into his bed. Dan, the oldest, had now decided to get up, he laid a hand on Killian's head before shouting orders.

"Alright, he has a temperature. Someone get him some water, he's probably dehydrated after chucking up. Jedikiah will be pissed if we don't at least try to help him." He pulled off Killian's duvet to cool him down, for the first time John noticed the large red blisters littering his friend's skin, his T-shirt was soaked through with sweat. John's eyes widened in panic.

"What's the hells the matter with him?" John's voice was urgent.

"He signed up for some new drug trial." Dan spoke with indifference, shrugging his shoulders. "Right, I'm going back to bed. Clean that mess up." He looked at John, indicating to the sick. It wasn't too hard to clean the mess up off the hard vinyl flooring of their dormitory. After half an hour he was finished, he stared down at Killian sympathetically, the boy was breathing heavily, in a restless sleep. John climbed back into bed, thinking about Killian. A drug trial had done this to him. Jedikiah had always told him the trials were harmless. He rolled over, trying to get a few hours' sleep before morning.

**TTP**

John awoke to Jedikiah entering their dorm with two Ultra guards. One grabbed Killian, roughly lifting him up and carrying him out of the room.

"Rise and shine, boys." Jedikiah said, in an annoyingly cheery voice. He turned the lights on, causing several groans from the sleeping recruits.

"Where are they taking him?" John asked Jedikiah, his voice slightly raised. Jedikiah looked the boy over, he had bags under his eyes, he was a paler than usual, his hair was a mess, the kid was clearly distressed.

"Not that it's any of your business, John, but to the research labs. McCrane needs some medical attention." John climbed out of bed. "John get dressed, I'd like a word in my office. Everybody else, get up."

John got a shower, got dressed and reported to Jedikiah's office, deliberately taking his time. He was angry about what the drugs had done to Killian. He was angry that Jedikiah had lied to him about the trials. But most of all, he was angry at himself for trusting Ultra and Jedikiah and everyone who worked for them.

As he entered the office, Jedikiah gestured for John to sit down on the sofa. He tactfully sat down on the empty seat next to him, looking at John with a concerned expression.

"What's the matter, John? Something's troubling you." John looked up at Jedikiah, suddenly unsure of what to say, this was the man who had rescued him from his foster home, taught him how to defend himself.

"The drugs did that to him, didn't they?" His tone wasn't accusatory, but resigned. He knew the answer. Jedikiah hesitated to respond, looking at John curiously. This was all the response John needed. "You told me the drug trials were safe." This time his voice was raised. John eyes were glassy, he looked at Jedikiah with mistrust.

"The drug trials are safe, John, at least the ones you're on anyway. McCrane is 18, he can sign up to any trials he wants to, and I can assure you, that if I thought the trial he signed up for was unsafe, I would have advised him not to do it." He moved his hand to John's chin, guiding his head so that he was looking him in the eye. The boy looked down, mistrustful eyes avoiding his guys. "Hey, look at me… Look at me John." The boy obeyed, his eyes still watery. "I wouldn't harm a recruit under my supervision. It's my job to train you and protect you." John nodded.

"So now you know the drugs are dangerous, can Killian come off them." John said.

"I wish it was that simple John, but it could be more harmful to have him stop taking the drugs mid trial. There could be more side effects. He should finish the trial he is on, and then Mr McCrane can decide whether he wants to continue with the treatment. The trial is voluntary; this was entirely his choice John." John paused looking down at the floor, before reluctantly nodding his head in understanding. "Why are you so concerned about Killian, anyway?"

"Because he's my friend, my only friend in this place and I don't want him to die."

"I thought I was your friend." Jedikiah said in mock offence, ruffling the boy's hair. "And I know Roger thinks he's your friend too."

John gave a tight smile, nodding his head. He exited Jedikiah's office to go for his morning run. Jedikiah watched the boy leave, that was a close call, if John had said some of those things in front of the other recruits, he knew he'd have to report the behaviour. Disloyalty and resistance would not be accepted at Ultra, even in the mildest forms.

He made a mental note for Roger to teach John how to hide his emotions, the kid wore his heart on his sleeve and that was not a good quality in a soldier.

**TTP**

Jedikiah entered the labs, he was there to check on Killian's progress. Killian was asleep a cot in the research lab. A doctor approached him as he entered.

"We have given the subject a sedative to calm him down, he was quite distressed when he was brought in. Other than that he is fine, he was being melodramatic and can go back to his room." Jedikiah looked down at the blisters covering McCranes skin.

"There's blisters covering his body and he was ill last night, surely that shows a bad reaction to the drugs." Normally Jedikiah would take the Dr's word that the recruit would be ok and return him to his room, but he wanted to reduce the symptoms, if just to appease John's worry.

"We've given him Hyoscine to reduce the nausea. As for the blisters, they should heal naturally. I would be wasting medication if I prescribed something to heal them any quicker." The doctor looked bored, it was clear he felt treating Killian for side effects was a waste of his time and resources. The recruits were like lab rats to these people.

**Don't worry, John will get more rebellious as time goes on, he's just easing into it. Thank you for reading, please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As the weeks went by, Killian's side effects continued to get worse. Every few weeks the doctors would change his medication, causing an entirely new set of side effects to begin just as the old ones started to cease. It was torturous.

The drugs were intended to inhibit the effects of various neurotransmitters in the prime barrier, the part of the brain that stopped TP's from killing. This week Killian had been switched to a new drug called Parathion, an acetyl choline inhibitor. The doctors at Ultra had enhanced this drug to ensure it specifically targeted the Prime barrier. So far, Killian had only experienced mild nausea and breathlessness as a side effect but earlier that morning he had experienced convulsions. The doctors had refused to take him off the drug, claiming it to be "unsafe" to stop taking the pills midway through his two week course of them.

To make matters worse for Killian, John had noticed the side effects; he had seen Killian collapse into a seizure, convulsions wracking through his body. The site had really freaked John out and it was clear that he had no intention of letting the topic go, John wanted to know what was going on.

Killian headed to Jedikiah's office, he had been told to report there a by a senior member of staff. As he reached for the door, he felt a familiar fluttering in his stomach; every time he'd been called to Jedikiah's office he'd been in trouble, he had good reason to be nervous. As he entered, Jedikiah immediately called out, "Take a seat, Killian." There was an edge to his voice.

Killian sat down, opposite Jedikiah's desk, looking at him expectantly. Jedikiah ignored him for a short while, tapping away on his computer, looking as stern as usual.

"As you may have become aware, other recruits in your unit have agreed to join the Annex project." Jedikiah announced.

"Yeah, I noticed, they got similar side effects to me."

"And you remember the contract you signed, stating that you won't speak to anyone about your experience the project? Not to anyone, that includes other participants. The project could be compromised this sort of information is made common knowledge." Killian nodded curtly.

"Good, then I don't need to remind you that Ultra is a very powerful and influential company and millions of dollars have gone into this project. Making an enemy of Ultra would be a very bad idea." Killian tensed his posture, a mixture of surprise and fear flashed across his face. Jedikiah was still fixing him a stern look, it was clear he meant business.

"Yes sir." Killian replied, quickly following it up with, "I understand."

"Good, you're dismissed." With that, Jedikiah returned to his work, skilfully ignoring the worried recruit in front of him. As Killian walked back to his dorm, it dawned on him how serious things were getting. He was on drugs that were making him feel like death warmed over, he had just been threatened by the government and he had never felt more trapped than he did now. A few weeks ago, his life seemed so simple and now he could feel the weight of the world bearing down on him.

John greeted him as he entered, he'd probably been waiting for him to return, ready to bombard him with questions. "We need to t-", Killian cut him off with his hand.

"Not now." He flung himself on his bunk, he rolled over facing away from John.

"I just thou-"

"Not now, John" He peered back over his shoulder at the nervous looking boy, John really was concerned about him. "Look, I'm really tired and I've had a really long day, ok?" John really wanted to argue, but resigned himself, Killian didn't need this.

"Ok" he replied, the emptiness in his voice was alarming. He left the dorm, heading to the gym so he could run some more laps, he needed to burn off some steam.

As her ran, he thought about Killian, others were starting to get his symptoms; he had noticed the red blisters on Jack, one of the older boys in their unit, and yesterday, Kelly had coughed up blood during a training session. Other recruits seemed to be on the same drugs as Killian, but Jedikiah wouldn't have done that, John thought. He wouldn't knowingly put recruits in danger, would he?

**TTP**

John lost track of time during his run, making him late to his session with Roger. He apologised, explaining himself before they continued with the session. For the past few days, Roger had been making him practise his telekinesis. John had a decent amount of control, but Roger was convinced it could be improved. In the first session they started with weights, increasing the weight of the weight and asking John to manoeuvre it in various ways. They later moved on to levitating people and exercising very controlled movements over individuals. This week, Roger had stepped the training up, he'd brought in an old car from a scrap heap and asked John to push it.

John tried. He couldn't. He continued trying for another 10 minutes, pushing with his telekinesis as hard as he could before looking at Roger in frustration.

"How am I supposed to move that? I couldn't physically lift that, no one could, so how can you expect me to be able to move it." Roger looked the boy over, assessing him.

"Stop underestimating yourself. You can move the car, you're just not in the right state of mind." He paused. "I've always told you that emotions have a huge influence on your powers, strong emotions will increase your ability. You use that principle with teleporting all the time, why can't you apply it to telekinesis? Now close your eyes."

John turned to the car and closed his eyes.

"Now I want you to focus on a memory, a strong and powerful memory. You don't have to tell me what it is." John thought about the drug treatments, how they were making Killian sick. He thought about how Jedikiah lied to his face, telling him they were safe. "Right, now let it consume you. Think about how it makes you feel and let that feeling flow through you, consume you."

Rage flowed through John, but it was quickly replaced by fear. The side effects were getting worse, Killian had a seizure this morning, there was only so much the body could take. John felt helpless. Weak. Trapped. Alone. He chose that moment to push at the car, throwing it in the air and watching it crash back down seconds later. John collapsed back, trembling.

A second later, Roger was on his knees, supporting his arm and helping him to his feet. He appeared to be talking but John couldn't hear him due to the ringing in his ears. Roger guided him to a chair, the ringing soon stopped and Roger turned to him.

"Maybe that's enough for today." John nodded, eager to leave.

**Thank you for reading. Please review. **


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